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Dakota Johnson suffered an emotional breakdown days before filming horror movie Suspiria, because she feared she had taken on a project that was too big.

The Fifty Shades of Grey actress portrays a dancer in the remake of the 1977 classic, and, despite preparing a year in advance for the physically demanding role, she was overcome by anxiety as the start of production loomed.

In a sit down for the interview series Variety Actors on Actors, the 29 year old describes her intense feelings, recalling the breakdown in director Luca Guadagnino's office.

"(I) had this f***ing meltdown four days before filming and was like, 'I can't do this'," she shares. "I was in tears... and I was like, 'I'm a fraud'. It was awful."

Johnson recalls having similar reservations when she collaborated with Guadagnino for A Bigger Splash in 2015. The brunette beauty is grateful to the filmmaker and co-star Tilda Swinton, who also appears in Suspiria, for convincing her not to walk away from the dramatic thriller.

"He and Tilda sat me down and they were like, 'You are so OK to do this. You can do this. This is for you and that's why you're here'," she says. "For my whole life I've been railing against myself thinking that someone's gonna find out that I'm a fraud. This is a thing that artists do really struggle against... this feeling that 'I'm not actually deserving of this job or this career'."

The star also endured physical difficulties while rehearsing for the film's dance sequences with the help of Mary Helen Bowers, who trained Natalie Portman for Black Swan.

"We’d shoot for half a day on those dance sequences, because you can’t move your body more than that. And also, it was so cold and the floor was really hard like cement," she shared. "I got injured. I threw my back out. My feet would bleed."